Today's Voting Could Be Test for GOP

U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, acknowledged a little nervousness as he voted Tuesday in his race for governor of New Jersey, one of several contests being closely monitored for evidence of how the GOP's recent struggles are influencing voters.

Tuesday's voting in New Jersey concluded a campaign that featured more personal attacks than actual talk about the issues. The races there and in Virginia - together the biggest contests in this off-year election season - broke spending records in both states, got progressively nasty and yet remained close.

Several New Jersey voters said Tuesday they were turned off by the candidates' negative campaigning.

"There's just too much mudslinging," said Mike Myers, 52, of Bridgewater. "Why can't they talk about what's important instead of battering each other and their families?"

Corzine, facing Republican businessman Doug Forrester, voted shortly after the polls opened at a fire station in Hoboken. Coming out of the voting booth, he told reporters he was "a little nervous, a little worried but confident."

few hours later, Forrester voted at a senior center, giving a thumbs-up and expressing only optimism about his chances.

In Virginia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine chatted with neighbors in his Richmond neighborhood before going to the polls with his wife, Anne Holton.

Kaine's Republican challenger, Jerry Kilgore, got support Monday from President Bush, who made a last-minute dash into Virginia to urge die-hard conservatives to help turn out voters for the former attorney general.

"The thing I like about this fellow is he grew up on a farm," Bush said in a brief stop on his return from a South American trade mission. "He doesn't have a lot of fancy airs."

At a campaign event for Kaine, Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner welcomed the arrival of Bush, who even in reliably Republican Virginia suffers job-approval ratings of around 40 percent.

"If they want to compare how things are going in Washington versus how things are going in Virginia, I'll take that comparison every day of the week," Warner said.

In other contests Tuesday, the cities of New York, Detroit, Houston, Boston, San Diego and Atlanta had mayoral races. Seven states considered ballot issues, including four proposals backed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that were trailing in the polls.